Government statistics show the number of Yukon students rose last year for the first time in six years, though it's still down 12 per cent from 2000.

The May 2010 school enrolment report was released Monday by the Yukon's Bureau of Statistics. It put total enrolment for Kindergarten through to Grade 12 at 5,078 students, down 673 from May 2000.

The number of Yukon students has been on a steady decline since the turn of the century, but for a blimp in 2003 when the total number climbed by 20 from 2002.

Enrolment this year is up by 58 from last year.

The percentage of aboriginal students increased in 2010 to 34 per cent of the total student population from 26 per cent in 2000, and the percentage of non-aboriginal students fell from 74 per cent to 66.

Officials from the Department of Education were unavailable this morning to comment.

Nor were statistics available from the department to show what the trend has been in the number of teaching staff between 2009 and 2010.

Of the 29 elementary and high schools in the territory, 14 saw their student populations rise while 14 stayed the same, and the enrolment of 98 students at Watson Lake Secondary was the only one to stay the same, according to the statistics.

Overall, however, about two-thirds of the schools have seen their numbers fall over the period from 2000 to 2010.

Monday's report shows that 42 per cent of all students are enrolled in Grades 8 to 12. While enrolment in English school programs fell by 18 per cent in the 10 years, it grew by 67 per cent for French school programs.

Statistics for individual schools are all over the map, according to the report.

In 2000, for instance, there were 66 students enrolled at Old Crow's Chief Zzeh Gittlit, but the number fell constantly to a low of 26 in 2008 but climbed to 30 in 2009 and was up to 42 last year.

Enrolment at Dawson City's Robert Service School had fallen by 25 per cent, from 263 students to 196.

With its 77 students, Hidden Valley Elementary in the north end of Whitehorse was down almost 50 per cent by last May, and Jack Hulland Elementary School has shrunk by 40 per cent, falling from 466 students in 2000 to 278 last year.

Enrolment for Golden Horn Elementary was at 141 students in 2010, down from 153 in 2000, though a shift in catchment boundaries a couple of years ago sent more students to Elijah Smith Elementary.

Elijah Smith was sitting at 341 students last year, up 115 from 2000, accounting for the most significant growth of all Yukon schools between 2000 and 2010.

But École Émilie-Tremblay was a close second, with last year's student population sitting at 165 students, up 50 from 2000.

Enrolment at Grey Mountain Primary was at 55 students in 2010, down 45 from a decade earlier.

While Selkirk Elementary School saw its student population shrink by 61 students over the 10 years, it rebounded by 17 last year to a total of 191.

Enrolment at F.H. Collins Secondary School – which is being replaced – fell by 120 students to 593 last May; Porter Creek Secondary School fell by 96 to 570; and enrolment at Vanier Catholic Secondary dipped slightly, from 441 students in 2000 to 432 last May.

Mayo's J.V. Clark's enrolment was at 62 a year ago, down from 38 from 2000.

The Tantalus School in Carmacks, on the other hand, was up eight students over the 10 years, for a student population last year of 103.

Statistics for other Yukon schools indicate the following:

• Takihini Elementary: 142 (2010) – 223 (2000), down 81 students;

• Holy Family Elementary: 168 – 182, down 14 students;

• Christ the King Elemenary: 329 – 315, up 14;

• Whitehorse Elementary: 327 – 406, up 79;

• Nelnab Bessie John (Beaver Creek): 5 – 17, down 12;

• Del Van Gorder (Faro): 42 – 76, down 34:

• Ghuch Tia (Carcross): 53 – 57, up four:

• Eliza Van Bibber (Pelly Crossing): 58 – 74, down 16;

• Teslin: 58 – 64, up eight;

• Ross River: 65 – 73, down eight;

• Destruction Bay: seven – six, up one;

• Johnson Elementary (Watson Lake); 121 – 175, down 54;

• St. Elias (Haines Junction); 127 – 143, down 16.